Foreign Aid and Consumption Smoothing: Evidence From Global Food Aid

By Erwin H Tiongson, Benedict J. Clements, Sanjeev Gupta

February 1, 2003

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Format: Chicago

Erwin H Tiongson, Benedict J. Clements, and Sanjeev Gupta. Foreign Aid and Consumption Smoothing: Evidence From Global Food Aid, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2003) accessed September 18, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

Global food aid is considered a critical consumption smoothing mechanism in many countries. However, its record of stabilizing consumption has been mixed. This paper examines the cyclical properties of food aid with respect to food availability in recipient countries, with a view to assessing its impact on consumption in some 150 developing countries and transition economies, covering 1970 to 2000. The results show that global food aid has been allocated to countries most in need. Food aid has also been countercyclical within countries with the greatest need. However, for most countries, food aid is not countercyclical. The amount of food aid provided is also insufficient to mitigate contemporaneous shortfalls in consumption. The results are robust to various specifications and filtering techniques and have important implications for macroeconomic and fiscal management.

Subject: Aid flows, Consumption, Food production, Food security, Foreign aid, National accounts, Poverty, Production

Keywords: Aid flows, Consumption, Consumption smoothing, Counterpart funds, Emergency food aid, Food aid, Food aid allocation, Food aid disbursement, Food aid flow, Food aid program, Food aid sale, Food production, Food security, Foreign aid, Global, Program food aid, Sub-Saharan Africa, Vis-à-vis country, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

26
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2003/040
Stock No:

WPIEA0402003
ISBN:

9781451845990
ISSN:

1018-5941

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